Shandong Province Heze City Vice Mayor and Yuncheng County Party Secretary Yang Xinsheng was taken down on August 20, 2026. Heze City is the hometown of Ma Xingrui, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Following Ma Xingrui’s downfall in April 2026, several officials in Heze City were investigated.
On August 20, 2026, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Communist Party of China reported based on information from the Shandong Province Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervisory Commission that Yang Xinsheng, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Mayor of Heze City, and Secretary of Yuncheng County, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is under investigation.
Twelve days before the investigation, on August 8, 2026, Yang Xinsheng conducted a public investigation into the construction of key projects in Yuncheng County.
According to publicly available information, Yang Xinsheng, born in January 1973, has served as a member of the Discipline Inspection Commission and Secretary General of Zibo City, Shandong Province, Deputy Secretary and County Governor of Gaoqing County, Liaocheng City, and Secretary of Gaotang County Committee. In December 2024, he was appointed as Vice Mayor of Heze City Government and Secretary of Yuncheng County Committee.
Eight months ago, on December 11, 2025, Huang Shoujiang, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Yuncheng County, Heze City, was taken down from his position.
It is worth noting that Heze City in Shandong Province is the hometown of Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan, and the fallen member of the Political Bureau, Ma Xingrui. Ma Xingrui was officially taken down on April 3, 2026; within a month before and after this date, several officials from his hometown, Heze City, were taken down.
Among them, Xiao Youhua, a member of the Party Leadership Group, Secretary General, and Minister of the United Front Work Department of Heze City Committee, was taken down on April 13, 2026. During Ma Xingrui’s governance in Xinjiang, from August 5 to 7, 2023, and from May 16 to 22, 2024, Xiao Youhua, the then Vice Mayor of Heze, led a delegation of government and enterprise representatives from Heze to Xinjiang for inspection and signed cooperation agreements.
Additionally, Xu Xiancheng, a former deputy county-level cadre of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Chengwu County, Heze City, was investigated on April 14, 2026; Guo Gang, a former research fellow at the Judicial Bureau of Heze City, was investigated on April 8, 2026; Song Zili, Deputy Director of the Education, Science, and Health Committee of the Political Consultative Conference of Heze City, was taken down on March 25, 2026; and Zhao Zhong, Party Secretary and Director of…